Esoteric Question: Are men the only ones capable of achieving enlightenment?

I was watching "Beyond Rangoon" a long time ago--it's a film with Patricia Arquette. The statement was made in the film that men are the only ones capable of reaching enlightenment, which I've always remembered because I thought it was a really odd thing to say, and I wondered what was meant by it.

Then, last night, I was watching a movie called "Water." It was produced in India with English subtitles. The film was bizarre.

"Water" was set in India circa the 1930's when Gandhi was still alive. The story revolves around a 7 year old girl, who was a widow--yes, widow.

As a widow, this young girl was expected to live her entire life--destitute without ever getting re-married.

Actually, according to Hindu tradition, widows have 3 choices:

1. They can throw themselves on the burial fire and burn to death.
2. They can live their entire life in poverty and never re-marry
3. They can re-marry the younger brother of the deceased husband.

I told my mom about these rules and she goes, "What a bunch of chauvinists!" I concurred.

Apparently, these "traditions" have been going on for over a 1000 years. In 2001, India conducted a census, and it was reported that there were 34 million widows in India, which I find interesting.

So, getting back to the original "esoteric question," one of the women in the story was lamenting that she wished she could be born as a man in the next life. Perhaps, "only men can reach enlightenment" is the distracting fallacy, which has nothing to do with women's ability. Perhaps, her sorrow is the result of following chauvinistic traditions, which devalue a woman's worth. I think this was the basic underlying message of the film.